When two of a team’s golfers hit eagles, it usually means that the team had a successful round. 

That was not the case for the No. 13 Ducks in the first round of the Chevron Silverado Showdown at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, CA. 

Oregon finished the opening day of the competition in 12th out of the 16 competing schools, but are just two strokes behind a four-way tie for eighth. 

The Ducks are a full 15 strokes off of leaders No. 4 USC, and are fifth-best out of the eight Pac-12 teams participating. 

Even with the return of freshman Kiara Romero, the No. 3 ranked golfer nationally, from the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, Oregon struggled to find team success in the first outing in Napa. 

Ching-Tzu Chen led the way with her eventful one-under (71), but her round looked exponentially less promising as she made the turn into hole 10. 

Chen was two-over (38) after the front nine due to a birdie and three bogeys. She alleviated that almost immediately on the back nine – starting with two birdies in the first three holes. 

Compounding that with two birdies on the last two holes – Chen had a three-under (33) back nine with four birdies and one bogey. 

Chen placed the highest out of any Oregon golfer in the opening round, as she tied for 11th out of 88 golfers – just one stroke away from the top 10. 

Oregon’s second-best performer at the PING/ASU Invitational was Minori Nagano, and she opened taking second fiddle again on Monday. Just like in Tempe, however, that effort has still secured her a spot in the top 25. 

Nagano tied for 25th place after day one at the Silverado Showdown, which included her first eagle of the season. Even though she only shot two bogeys, the day still ended sour for Nagano.

Nagano finished the front nine with a bogey and subsequently a triple-bogey on two of the last three holes. That brought her from one-under to three-over in a span of two holes – something she would struggle to fully recover from. 

Although Nagano opened with an eagle on the back nine, she would not manage to bring herself back under par, but her bogey and birdie helped keep her in the top-25. She finished with a one-over (73) in the first round. 

Romero found her return to the lineup difficult, as she struggled to take the reins of the tournament like she has become accustomed to. She shot two-over on the front nine, which included an early double-bogey, and couldn’t recover on the back nine, where she shot one-over. 

She shot four bogeys and three birdies throughout the day. 

Romero’s score totaled to a four-over (75), which is not up to her usual standards. This score is largely reflective of her hiatus from the team, and college golf in general. 

Romero placed tied for 47th in the competition. 

Anika Varma led the way for the Ducks in Tempe last weekend, but she could not capture the same magic in Napa. 

Varma shot seven bogeys and one double-bogey en route to a six-over (78) for the opening round. Her luck will need to change if she is to repeat her top-15 finish from last tournament. 

Varma is tied at 73rd, which is much closer to the bottom than the top. As the competition continues, Varma will look for the smaller positives to define her Silverado Showdown.

The highest score of the lineup today came from Ting-Hsuan Huang, who began the round with five bogeys on her first six holes.

Along with another two bogeys and a double-bogey on the back nine, Huang shot a seven-over (79) to round out the team scores for Oregon, which placed her at 79th. 

The Ducks have also utilized three individuals in this competition, and one placed in the top-25 going into round two. 

Karen Tsuru, a golfer who has not seen action yet this spring, played incredible golf for someone that has not competed at all this season. 

Tsuru shot three birdies and four bogeys for a one-over (73), which tied her at 25th with Nagano. 

Sonja Tang shot four bogeys, one quadruple-bogey and two birdies for a five-over (77) scoreline. Tang tied for 65th in the competition, one stroke ahead of Varma. 

Although Baylee Hammericksen shot one of the day’s five eagles, that would be the only hole she shot under par. 

Hammericksen shot six bogeys and two double-bogeys, which gave her the worst score out of any Oregon golfer with an eight-over (80). She placed in 80th, only six strokes from the bottom. 

The Ducks will need to start finding more birdie opportunities and converting those to jump the leaderboard. With a four-way tie just ahead of them, there will be enough movement to give rise to an Oregon leap up the standings in the final two days in Napa.

Scorecard: Round score (Par), Place in rankings

Chen: 71 (-1), T-11th

Nagano: 73 (+1), T-25th 

Tsuru (i): 73 (+1), T-25th 

Romero: 75 (+3), T-47th

Tang (i): 77 (+5), T-65th

Varma: 78 (+6), T-73rd

Huang: 79 (+7), 79th

Hammericksen (i): 80 (+8), 80th

Oregon: 297 (+9), 12th out of 16